


long looks at the sun

by HiddenEye



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Anna Karenina AU, Desperation, M/M, Married Couple, Pining, Scandal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 06:07:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11052900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenEye/pseuds/HiddenEye
Summary: A poorly kept secret is a disaster that’s waiting to burst into their faces.





	long looks at the sun

**Author's Note:**

> I started this out of impulse after watching Anna Karenina ft. Keira Knightly, and I thought I'd continue this until it'll turn into a full fledge fic but it didn't and, well, 
> 
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> But I really like this piece and I recommend watching the movie because it hit all the aesthetic kinks I have and I love it
> 
> Enjoy!

A poorly kept secret is a disaster that’s waiting to burst into their faces.

“You're beginning to look desperate,” Allura murmurs against the rim of the flute glass, letting Keith feather a kiss onto the silken glove of her knuckles. “It's unattractive.”

Perhaps, but the thought doesn't bother him as he merely ignores the stares from the people milling around the room, and instead accepts another glass of the same red wine that's been passed into his hold while he makes himself comfortable on the empty space beside her. He takes a sip, and he knows how hard she's trying to not roll her eyes at his dismissal. “Is there any chance that he'll come?”

Because the flows of dresses and fitting suits doesn't impress him as much as the event should, where lovely men and women alike hide their laughter from the other in such peculiar way of embarrassment, since they think dignity is more important than showing their full honesty.

He thinks they're wasting their time, and takes another sip when one of the older women gives him a look that could wilt a weak heart.

Ah, so the news of what he's done a few days ago have spread. Of course, Keith knows this to be a fact that the bystanders hated to not see him woo the prince they've all been rooting for; the lovely blue-eyed beauty would surely look stunning with the sergeant, and the sighs and whines of those doesn't get a chance with both of them would be silenced into defeat by then.

But, it’s not entirely his fault he sees the same steel stare making an appearance at the ballroom, and they have been as striking when he first sees them on the train.

“Now that he knows you exists?” He doesn't bother to glance at her as he searches past waiters and extravagant furnitures that has been bought with her money. “I wouldn't doubt it. But, I heard his husband is here as well.”

He stills, but makes a show of twirling the glass to the side, as if to aspect the fine art that’s barely visible on it. “They came together?”

“I've suspected that Shiro would came here first alone,” the accusation under her tone makes Keith shift his gaze towards her, but the blank look she dons doesn't par with the words leaving her mouth. “But, of course, Count Lotor doesn't usually have the time to attend to these things without having the need to be somewhere else, so there's a chance he's coming here in favour of not leaving his husband alone again.”

Keith doesn't reply, but the dissatisfaction that churns in his gut makes him set aside his wine a little too noisily, just beside his service cap, where it takes a moment for him to pull out the little silver casing from his suit pocket and popping the cigarette into his mouth.

He's already lighting up the stick when a certain hush falls over the room.

Keith thinks that's a grand entrance if it's needed to be said.

Taking a slow drag, he releases the smoke above his head while Allura fans the remains of it away from her face, watching their new guest walk in.

Broad shoulders fills in the black suit he wears, the silvers cuffs near his wrists gleams dimly under the lights while his feet bore the shoes of a man who has everything what humanity nowadays keened for. It's a posture of someone who knows he's forbidden to be seen alone when his spouse should be by his arm, but the gait of his strides suggests he doesn't care when his eyes zeroes onto Keith.

Finally.

A small upturn of his lips, Keith stands up with a grace that suggests the faint whispers doesn't bother him as he stabs the butt of the cigarette into the crystal ashtray.

Allura greets Shiro with a hum when he kisses the back of her hand. “Shiro, darling. I thought that you weren't able to join us.”

“I did too,” Shiro responds with a small laugh, straightening up to his full height. “But, you insisted.”

She chuckles. “Yes, well, I wasn't going to leave you out of my party now, would I?”

“I suppose.” Then, he moves his gaze towards Keith, who's silently amused at the attempt of a neutral face Shiro tries to make. “Sergeant Kogane.”

“Count Shirogane,” Keith greets with an offer of his hand, letting Shiro return the formalities with a firm shake. “Good to see you again.”

“Likewise,” Shiro mutters when Keith raises their connected hands to his lips, leaving a kiss onto Shiro's knuckle while not breaking eye contact. “I didn't expect you to be here either.”

“Allura let me use her house as my second home,” Keith tells him, taking his time to slip away his fingers from his hold. “She's a very dear friend, sometimes.”

“Yes, because my father insisted you stay here whenever you visited,” she says with a faint touch of annoyance in her tone, but her eyes sparkles with mirth. “You don't know how grateful your mother is to have a brat like you under tight leash.”

“When has that ever stopped me?” Keith questions with a quirk of his eyebrows, and Allura scoffs lightly before sipping her drink.

Then, she narrows her eyes at the entrance, before getting up with a smooth motion as she hooks her arm into Shiro's, surprising the man as she tugs him towards the table of beverages at the side of the room. “Come, Shiro. You're probably thirsty.”

Keith watches them leave before allowing his gaze to stray towards the door, where he sees the white hair of Count Lotor making his way in, sharp yellow eyes looking over the crowd with a sweep of his lazy gaze.

It takes Keith that moment to leave the lounge before he's seen, his cap in hand. He walks towards where Shiro and Allura stands, and they're talking in a low tone as she passes him a shot glass of clear liquid.

His shoulder brushes against Shiro's as Keith stands beside him, where the taller man glances at him in enquiry when he begins to speak, “I'll have to make my leave,” Keith says, meeting Shiro's gaze unwaveringly. “Mama would want see me at the moment, and I can't make any excuses not to or she'll have my head.”

“So soon?” Shiro asks, and it looks as if they're alone again in the middle of the marble floor.

Keith realises this would be a hard habit to pick out if they don't prevent it.

“Unfortunately,” he answers, giving a smile that doesn't reach his eyes, and faces Allura with a bow. “I'm sorry this has to cut so short.”

“You'll miss the fireworks.” She warns, where the people are already gathering for the show in the middle of the clearing as the roof begins to slide open. “and the after-party that comes with it.”

“Another time, maybe,” he says, turning around to take his leave. “I'll send both of your regards to Mama.”

Keith manages to avoid Lotor on his way out, inhaling the cold air of winter as he escapes the suffocating cloud of the room, before he hears the smack of footsteps against the floor becoming louder.

“You're leaving.”

The statement makes Keith pause on his way down the small stairs, and he turns around to see Shiro standing behind him with something scorching in his eyes, one that Keith tries not to think of too deeply. “I'll be going to Saint Petersburg for my promotion,” he says quietly, rubbing his thumbs against the white cloth of his cap. “Mama thinks it's best for me and my future, but seeing you made contemplate that all over again.”

“When do you leave?” The demand is weak even to Keith, but the heat of determination is unmistakable underneath it.

“Tomorrow, if I decided to take up the offer,” Keith studies the man, who looks as if he’s preventing himself from going nearer towards Keith. “Do you want me to go?”

Shiro let's out a breath of laughter, running his hand over his hair in disbelief. “Don't make it seem as if it's about me.”

“Do you want me to go?” Keith repeats his words, and Shiro looks away. “I'll be stationed there for three years before I'll come back here, but that's not even a guarantee.” He pauses, letting the words sink in properly. “I'll probably stay there for a long while.”

“And I can't make you do anything,” Shiro says. “It's what _you_ want.”

“What about you, Shiro?” Keith shoots back, holding onto his gaze. “What do you want?”

Shiro clenches his jaw. “Nothing.”

It takes a second longer for Keith to study Shiro's total disregard of pulling himself back together, where he exposes what he feels without a care of his title or what it means to slather his husband's name with the kind of actions they shamelessly committed.

Then, Keith nods shallowly, wearing the service cap on his head. “The train leaves in the morning, I won't be able to see you until my three years are up, and I apologise if I overstepped my boundaries the whole time we were in the same room.” He tips his head. “I'd like it if we remained as friends, if that isn't-”

“ _Don't,_ ” Shiro cuts him off sharply, taking a subconscious step forward. “I don't- you _know_ we're not just friends.”

Keith gives him a chance to collect himself, and Shiro meets his eyes again with a clench of his jaw.

“You can't make it look that way,” Shiro continues, back straightening. “You can't _leave_ while denying what we have.”

Death wouldn't be as quiet as the air between them after that; it wouldn’t be as cold, nor as stifling as if its long and bony fingers clasps around their airways with all the eagerness of a raging bull.

But Keith pushes them all away with a small smile. “Of course.”


End file.
